


Kindling In The Light

by flippednique



Series: First Love [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, the one with the third party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-26 19:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15669855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippednique/pseuds/flippednique
Summary: “Mitchell!” the sound of relief in Connor’s voice is almost palpable as he catches up to Mitchell halfway through the green.“Hi.” Mitchell offers him a small wave and an even smaller smile, eyes moving to linger on the teen by Connor’s side. He catches the way the teen’s eyes change color from a deep blue to a forest green. Of course.  “Who’s your friend, Stoll?”“I’m Noah.” Noah, apparently, smiles at Mitchell. “Child of Venus.”





	1. Chapter 1

The day the seven returns started as it normally would. Granted, the camp had fewer people since those who had to attend school had gone home and there weren’t a lot of year-round campers there to greet them. There were three from Aphrodite; four from Hermes, and a few more from the other cabins. The bulk of the campers were from Apollo (although their head healer was visiting his mother leaving a certain child of Hades alone and lonely).

Well, he looks better now.

“Nico’s smiling again.” Mikhaela, a daughter of Demeter, squeezes Mitchell’s arm as she points this out with a small sigh of relief as the child of Hades welcomes not just his friends, but also his sister, back to Camp Half-blood by pulling them out of the shadows just as breakfast was ending.

“He’s really been missing, Will.” Mitchell agrees then his attention diverts as more and more people enter the dining pavilion from the shadow gate. Good thing they’d abandoned their tables, they could at least greet the newcomers as a unified group. “Is it just me or are there more than your usual number of questers?”

“That has to be at least one legion, right?” Peter from Athena frowns, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Or is it what they call a cohort?”

“I have no idea.” Mitchell chuckles and claps along with everyone else when the seven grab their shrouds from Hestia’s hearth and toss it into the fire and they watch it burn. The quest was successful. No casualties. Wow. Mitchell turns to Mikhaela, “Looks like we’re going to have a feast tonight in their honor. Can the Demeter cabin handle the cooking?”

“Is that a challenge?” Mikhaela asked, her green eyes sparkling.

“Not really but you can take it however you want.” Mitchell laughs as Mikhaela pinches his arm then rushes off to speak to her siblings at the Demeter cabin. He’s about to do the same and walk off to the Aphrodite cabin’s table when an arm wraps itself around his waist.

“Hey you!” Connor’s voice is high and happy, obviously excited that the seven are back. With company to boot!

“Hey you.” Mitchell greets back with a small smile, tucking back some of the shorter strands of his hair, wincing when he catches sight of how light of a rosegold it was.

Connor catches the wince and gives Mitchell a look. “Angel, the new color _suits_ you.”

“You’re obligated to say that and make me feel better.” Mitchell huffs fussing even more with his hair now. “I should have gone with something less dramatic. I mean, why couldn’t I have gone with a rich brown or something? Why jump from black to rose gold like a normal person?”

“Because _you_ are daring.” Connor tells him patiently. “And you make anything look good, so like, why bother taking baby steps when you’re capable of making that leap of faith?”

“And working it?”

“And _working_ it.”

Mitchell gives Connor a considering look for a moment before he nods in agreement. “Okay, fine. You’re right." 

“Of course I’m right.” Connor presses a kiss to Mitchell’s cheek. “Still hungry?”

“Not really.” Mitchell fusses with his hair some more and looks around him as the Camp Jupiter members found their way to their respective tables. He’s surprised to see quite a number of people now seated on the Aphrodite table. “Mom got around a lot as Venus.”

Connor makes an amused noise. “You’re telling me? Do you see my cabin table right now?”

Mitchell’s eyes widen at the site of more than a dozen teens sitting around Connor’s table and he gives his boyfriend a solid smack on the back. “Good luck head councilor.”

“You too.”

Mitchell makes his way to the Aphrodite table and laughs as he pulls Piper into a hug. He takes a moment to appreciate that his sister is back, safe and whole. “Welcome home.”

“Glad to be back.” Piper says back, her eyes a kaleidoscope of colors. “I miss my bed, I miss not doing anything." 

“Hard quest?” Mitchell asks as he joins her and sits down and more food starts showing up.

“Lots of monster slaying.” Piper says as she pulls a plate of summer fruits closer to her. “Something was drawing them to Camp Jupiter and it took us a while to root out the problem.”

“Everything’s okay now though?” Mitchell’s a touch worried. He picks out a strawberry from Piper’s plate and pops it into his mouth.

“Yeah.” Piper assures him. “We’re just really tired. Hazel and Frank wanted to visit so they sent Reyna with them. With Reyna comes an entire cohort apparently.”

“Wow.” Mitchell chuckles eyeing the table. Several people look at him curiously and he stamps on the small part of him that wants to hide back in his cabin. He was a child of Aphrodite and they were children of Venus. For all intents and purposes, his siblings. He offers them all a wave. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Several chorus back. There’s a very obvious difference between Mitchell and them. For one thing they all look older than him. Must be the armor.

Piper snaps her fingers in front of Mitchell to grab his attention, which the latter dutifully gives with a questioning look. “How’s everything here?”

“Fine.” Mitchell responds instantly. “Everybody else is home for school so there’s like, fifty of us? Mostly the ones without a mortal parent.”

“It looked a little sad when we got here.” Piper says around a mouthful of bread and Mitchell nudges a glass of something towards her so she wouldn’t choke.

“That’s not the camp’s fault.” Mitchell leans in conspiratorially, beckoning his sister closer. “Nico’s been the resident doom and gloomer ever since Will left.”

“Really?” An interested gleam settles in Piper’s eyes that seemed to shine with the whole rainbow. “Are they together now? Like, officially?”

“That’s the kicker.” Mitchell says despondently. “They refuse to label anything.”

There’s a small frown on Piper’s face for a moment before she wipes it off with a shrug of her shoulders. “I guess labels don’t, like, necessarily matter.”

“I don’t know, I think it makes things a lot more official.” Mitchell hums thoughtfully. “Makes everything more stable.”

“That’s true too.” Piper waves her fork around. “I’m sure they can handle it. It’s not like there’s much we can do with only half the ship here.”

A child of Venus steals Piper’s attention from Mitchell and he excuses himself from the table, already late for his morning archery session with the Apollo cabin. Or what’s left of them. After a quick stop by the cabin to get his quiver and bows, he finds himself trudging on the long green open area with targets set in random and strategic places.

“Heya Mitchell!” Catherine, by far, is one of Mitchell’s close friends after working with her for the summer-end Apollo Theater, as everyone’s dubbed it. She releases the arrow and they both watch it fly at high speed and missing the target entirely.

“Started early Cath?” The son of Aphrodite makes quick note of the slew of arrows already littering the green as he sets up.

The other teen winces and laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, I still suck.”

“Just keep practicing.” Mitchell gives her head a pat, since she was significantly smaller than most people. Her twin brother gives him a thumbs up and both of them concentrate on making their marks, Cedric doing a better job than his sister.

Mitchell follows suit, sending a hoard of arrows towards just one particular target, trying to keep his marks consistent. Never know when you’d need to use your archery skills. Best to keep them in top shape. 

Firing arrow after arrow is therapeutic and it gives Mitchell a sense of calm. He ends up losing track of time, just going through the motions. He enjoys this, stopping only in surprise when his quiver turns up empty. Carefully, he makes his way to the target to retrieve them, marveling at how well they’re jabbed in.

“I don’t know my own strength.” He mutters under his breath at a particularly difficult arrow that wouldn’t come off the target no matter how hard he tried. He’s so intent on freeing said arrow he doesn’t even notice when people who did not have Archery in their schedules that morning invade the green.

Possibly because they didn’t have camp schedules to begin with.

“Mitchell!” the sound of relief in Connor’s voice is almost palpable as he catches up to Mitchell halfway through the green in the archery range.

“Hi.” Mitchell offers him a small wave and an even smaller smile, eyes moving to linger on the teen by Connor’s side. He catches the way the teen’s eyes change color from a deep blue to a forest green _._ “Who’s your friend, Stoll?”

“I’m Noah.” Noah, apparently, smiles at Mitchell. “Child of Venus.”

“Yeah, I met him in the camp store.” Connor says and Mitchell inwardly laughs at the slightly desperate pleading look the former gives him. “Do you need any help?”

“I’m good.” Mitchell’s smile is practically beatific and he gestures to his already free arrows. “It’s just this last one, too stubborn.”

“That happens to me a lot.” Noah says, pushing back a lock of brown hair behind his ear before reaching out to grab the arrow and tugging it out of the target altogether. He hands it to Mitchell with a grin.

“Thanks.” Mitchell takes the arrow and smiles back. “Is Connor showing you around?”

“Yeah, he’s been really helpful.” Noah glances at Connor through the corner of his eyes, oh, is that playful eye batting Mitchell sees? “He’s also very funny.”

“Is he?” Mitchell feels it building in him, sparking, like kindling in the light. It was that horrible, wretched feeling. And he’s man and secure enough to admit it. Someone was making a pass at Connor, right in front of him, and he was jealous.

Connor makes an aborted effort to shake his head, obviously aware that Noah’s making Mitchell uncomfortable. “Oh hey! I realized I haven’t introduced Mitchell to you. Silly me! Noah, this is Mitchell, my-“

“I can introduce myself, thanks.” Mitchell jabs the feather end of his arrow into Connor’s side and the son of Hermes yelps and stares at him with a betrayed expression. Mitchell extends his hand, after freeing it off arrows. “Mitchell, son of Aphrodite.”

“Oh we’re siblings!” Noah says, shaking the offered hand.

“Yes.” Mitchell might be squeezing a little harder than necessary but Noah doesn’t seem to notice, still smiling as they end the handshake.

“Hey Mitch, you’re bleeding.” Connor takes one of Mitchell’s hands; the one still wrapped around a bundle of arrows and inspects it. “Oh no, just a bit of redness.”

“Is that your drawing hand?” Noah asks.

“Yeah.” Mitchell gently pulls his hand from Connor’s. “Must have been pulling a little too hard earlier. I’ll stop by the infirmary and get something for it.”

“I’ll go with you.” Connor says immediately and Mitchell’s heart inwardly shrieks because that makes him feel very loved, yes indeed.

Outside, he just bats Connor’s proposal away. “That’s okay. You should finish giving Noah a tour. I’m sure he’s enjoying your company. Maybe bring him to the beach?”

Noah makes an interested noise at the beach, momentarily distracted as some of his siblings from Camp Jupiter walk up to him. Connor takes the opportunity to pull Mitchell away and ask, “What are you doing?”

Mitchell bats big forest green eyes at him; he’d unknowingly changed them to copy Noah’s. “What do you mean?”

“You can’t leave me with him!” Connor cries, lowering his voice to a near whisper. “He’s flirting with me.”

“Well, you’re not exactly bad looking. I can see why he'd flirt with you.” Mitchell assures him, patting his cheek. “Except maybe for that absolutely terrified look on your face.”

“Is this a game?” Connor asks bluntly. “Are you trying to see if I’m going to cheat on you? Because I won’t. I’m not like that.”

Mitchell’s eyebrows shoot up. “What? No! I know you wouldn’t ever do that. I have absolute faith in you.”

“Oh, good.” Connor grins, his shoulders relaxing considerably. “Why’d you cut me off earlier? When I was about to tell him you were my boyfriend?”

“You can tell him when I’m not around. Or you can not tell him at all.” Mitchell shrugs. “Either way, I’m sure he’ll get the message that you’re taken. I’m pretty sure he already knows.”

“You think so?” Connor frowns. “Then, why is he still flirting with me? And hanging off of me?”

“Might just be a child of love thing?” Mitchell thinks about it. “Either he sees you as a challenge, especially since you’re dating another child of love and he thinks he can still get you.”

“Rude.” Connor cuts in.

“Or,” Mitchell continues. “He’s the type who likes making other people jealous. Purposely.”

“What would be the point of that?”

“I don’t know.” Mitchell says honestly. “Some of my siblings do it. I mean, they don’t purposely go into it hoping to ruin the relationship, but just enough to like, get the other person riled up.”

“That does not make sense to me.” Connor tucks his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts.

“Yeah, some people are weird like that.” Mitchell chuckles. “Too bad I’m not the jealous type.”

“Nothing to be jealous of.” Connor assures him. “If the universe was made to worship you then so will I!”

“Which book did you steal that from?” Mitchell laughs, but there’s a bit of redness to his cheeks.

“I think it’s one of those worship songs or those hymns I keep hearing from the Apollo kids.” Connor waggles his eyebrows and waves at Catherine and Cedric who were beginning to pack up. “You know I’m not creative enough to make any romantic lines.”

“I beg to differ.” Mitchell rolls his eyes and glances down at his hand that he used to wave at the Apollo kids too in goodbye. He flexes it open and close and sighs. “Maybe I should go to the infirmary now.”

“I really want to go with you.” Connor says with a frown.

“I’ll be fine.” Mitchell nudges him. “It’s going to take more than this to get me down.”

“Don’t jinx anything.” Connor scolds him and he’s leaning in.

Mitchell smiles, eager for a kiss.

Noah pops up saying, “Sorry! They were asking me about the beach. Connor, do you think we can take my siblings too?”

The son of Hermes shoots the sky a regretful look, which he also sends to Mitchell.

Mitchell’s just glad that Connor has his back to Noah and tries to not burst into laughter at the pained look on his boyfriend’s face. “That sounds like a great idea! Make a party out of it. The tide’s supposed to be great for surfing.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve never surfed before.” Noah places a hand on Connor’s arm. “Do you think you can teach me?”

Connor inhales deeply and mouths “ _Traitor”_ to Mitchell before he turns to face Noah. “Sure.”

“Great!” He then tugs Connor away, effectively leaving Mitchell behind, talking the son of Hermes’ ear off.

Mitchell kind of feels bad for throwing his boyfriend to the sharks after being asked to save him but at the same time he wants to laugh so hard at the fidgety look on Connor’s face. His boyfriend was attractive, no doubt about that, but he was also oblivious enough to the advances of others that he usually either doesn’t notice he’s being flirted with or he just takes it as someone being extremely friendly.

The fact that Connor can tell that Noah’s flirting with him shows that Noah is making it clear that he likes Connor, and it was making him uncomfortable.

Meh, Connor will live.

Mitchell is halfway to the Big House to get to the infirmary, idly playing with one of his arrows just so that he doesn’t have to stare at the growing redness in his other hand, when he feels someone’s eyes on him. Noah and his siblings are lingering outside the camp store. Connor must have been getting them supplies for a surf meet and they opted to wait for him outside (as the store wasn’t very big to begin with and Connor was probably pulling out things from secret cabinets and trapdoors).

The son of Aphrodite makes a motion to wave and smile only to completely startle when Noah sends him an absolutely withering look that practically screamed his intentions.

‘ _He’s mine.’_

The arrow in Mitchell’s hand snaps.

The kindling in the light burns bright like a beacon, but he smothers it down like they would the campfire when the sun rose every morning.

Mitchell opts to smile at Noah, who raises a brow at the nonplussed reaction, and continues to the infirmary.

Broken arrow or no, he was _not_ the jealous type.

Or was he?


	2. The One With The Infirmary

He’s _not_ jealous.

 

Mitchell plucks another strawberry from its vine and chucks it into the basket Mikhaela handed him after his detour to the infirmary. Kayla, who was standing as head councilor and chief medic for the remainder of Will’s absence, had given him something to cool the redness in his hand and advised investing in a guard or something to prevent it from happening again.

 

“Hiya Mitchell.” Katie’s got dirt on her face but she doesn’t look any less lovely. A ribbon holds her wild strawberry curls back but a few strands shorter than the rest fall over her brown eyes. “Surprised to see you out here.”

 

“Hey Katie.” Mitchell sighs and works on a particularly large strawberry trying to get it free from the vine. “There are a lot of people in camp all of a sudden. Didn’t think the Camp Jupiter kids would fancy picking strawberries.”

 

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Katie whispers and beckons him close to her. She parts a few shrubs to the side and points, “You see that?”

 

Mitchell strains to see just whom it was they were spying on. “Is that Paige?”

 

“Mhmm,” Katie nods. “And some kid from Jupiter.”

 

“Some kid, huh?” Mitchell frowns. “Isn’t Paige like, fourteen?”

 

“Yeah, and Travis asked me to look after his sibs while he was away.” Katie smiles at him fondly. “Don’t tell Connor. Travis trusts him to do well, he’s just…”

 

“Having a hard time letting go?” Mitchell finishes for her then turns back to look at Paige and her new _friend_. “Does that look like a date to you?”

 

“You tell me, child of love.”

 

“It’s a date.” Mitchell declares. “A first one since I’m sure they just met today and Connor’s never mentioned any long distance relationships between his siblings and anyone in Camp Jupiter.”

 

“But would Connor really talk about stuff like that?”

 

“Sometimes he does.” Mitchell shrugs. “He likes to think of stuff I might like to talk about even though he doesn’t know a lot about it.”

 

“They’re so alike, it’s scary.” Katie chuckles. “One time Travis borrowed a book about plants and botany from Malcolm and tried showing off. Too bad the vines I had just planted were a little magicked and tried to strangle him.”

 

“Ouch.”

 

“Valiant effort let me tell you.” Katie lets out a wistful sigh and leans her head against a wooden plant support that surprisingly carried her weight. “I miss him.”

 

“He’ll be back before you know it.” Mitchell says trying to be comforting.

 

Laughter from Paige and the unknown Roman break up their conversation.

 

“That’s nice.”

 

Katie blinks but seems to understand. “The whole first date thing.”

 

“The bubbly feeling.”

 

“The excitement.”

 

“Every joke is funny.”

 

“Every little touch is electric.”

 

Mitchell and Katie exchange sly smiles, though the former frowns after a second.

 

“What?” Katie asks at the appearance of such a look.

 

“I was just wondering, like hypothetically.” Mitchell seems to be choosing his words. “Did anyone ever, like, make a move on Travis when you were dating?”

 

Katie’s eyes go wide and she whistles softly. “Someone’s hitting on Connor?”

 

“Hypothetically.” Mitchell says just to be clear. “How did you deal with it?”

 

Katie looks amused. “Don’t you Aphrodite kids usually know how to deal with stuff like this? I mean, I’ve seen Drew go crazy over a boyfriend or two before.”

 

“That’s different.” Mitchell says immediately. “Drew was, like, irrationally jealous when it came to anyone practically breathing on her boyfriend of the month.”

 

“And you’re not?”

 

“Well, no.”

 

Katie’s eyebrow arcs up. “Really?”

 

“Really.” Mitchell says it like he’s talking about how the sky is blue or grass is green. “I mean it’s not about ‘what if Connor finds someone else’ or ‘what if Connor does something stupid and spur of the moment’. Until it actually happens, I don’t have a reason to be angry much less jealous. And…”

 

“And?” Katie urges.

 

“Well, Connor chose _me_.” There’s a light flush on Mitchell’s face steadily growing from his cheeks to his ears. “And he _continues_ to choose me. What more can I ask? Why else should I think differently? Why would I, for all intents and purposes a child of Ares would say, want to fuck that up? ”

 

“That’s some mad faith in your boyfriend, Reeves.” Katie offers Mitchell a fist bump. “You have my respect.”

 

“Also, there’s the added bonus that there is absolutely no way Connor can do better than me. I mean, have you seen me? I am a ten, a babe, a one in a million gem.” Mitchell makes a show of running his fingers through his rose gold hair and batting his extremely long lashes at Katie who bursts into laughter.

 

“You Aphrodite kids like to show that you’re all tough talk but you’re pretty sweet and huge romantics on the inside aren’t you?”

 

Mitchell winks at her. “Take that information to your grave Gardner. Can’t let the people know just how easy it is to hurt us.”

 

“I swear it.” Katie makes a show of crossing an x over her heart, laughing when it’s done and she’s picking up her wicker basket of strawberries. “I should get to work on turning this into a pie. Or a crumble. What do you think?”

 

“Crumbles are messy.” Mitchell’s nose wrinkles.

 

“Good call. Strawberry pie it is!” Katie grins at him, still with the dirt on her cheek. “See you at the feast!”

 

Mitchell waves his goodbyes and goes back to picking strawberries. That conversation with Katie was certainly enlightening. He means what he said. Being jealous wasn’t his thing because Connor made it painfully clear that there was no reason to be.

 

 

 

“Hey Mitchell,” Mikhaela calls from somewhere ahead of him. “Is that Connor?”

 

Mitchell puts the basket down, lest he drop it and by default, all the strawberries he’d painstakingly plucked one by one and turns to look over to where Mikhaela is pointing. He nods, “Yeah, that’s him. Unless Travis managed to escape college like he’s vowed from day one.”

 

“He could, let’s be honest.” Mikhaela laughs, her hands on her hips. “Who’s that with him?”

 

“My brother.” Mitchell shrugs his shoulders. “Child of Venus.”

 

“Wow.” Mikhaela shakes her head. “Can he be anymore obvious?”

 

Mitchell frowns at her. “What?”

 

“He’s practically draped all over Connor! Who doesn’t have his shirt on by the way!” Mikhaela snaps her fingers at him. “Mitchell, that boy’s going after your man!”

 

“He’s shirtless? I think they went surfing.” Mitchell is squinting as he tries to get a proper look of his boyfriend and he laughs lowly when Mikhaela glares at him. “It doesn’t matter if he’s ‘going after my man’ Mikhaela. Connor can do whatever he wants.”

 

“Why do you keep squinting?”

 

“What?” Mitchell blinks at the child of Demeter and can feel a headache blooming. “Oh, um. My eyesight isn’t as great as it used to be, I guess?”

 

“You should get one of the Apollo kids to check on that.”

 

“I don’t think we they can prescribe glasses, Mikha- ow, hey!” Mitchell gasps at the vicious pinch Mikhaela gave his arm and he rubs at it to soothe the pain away. “Holy Hades that was hard!”

 

“You need to take care of yourself more.” Mikhaela tells him. “Self care is freaking important!”

 

“I know that, woman!” Mitchell yanks himself away from her pinching fingers and abandons his basket of strawberries. “I also know that even if Will were here they wouldn’t be able to do a thing for me!”

 

“They actually write eyeglass prescriptions.” Steven, another child of Demeter cuts in from where he’s doing his own strawberry picking (just how many strawberries did they need??). “Then you take it to the camp store and the Hermes’ kids talk to the Hephaestus kids about getting a pair made for you. Or you know, maybe contacts?”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“It’s new.” Steven assures him. “Leo was working on it with Will before the quest happened and well, Will wasn’t exactly expecting anyone to really need glasses so no one was really talking about it. You should check all the same. Nothing to lose, right?”

 

“My capillaries beg to differ.” Mitchell grumbles as he lifts his sleeve to see his skin already bruising. “Lovely. Thanks Steven, Mikhaela.”

 

“I only do this because I care.” The daughter of Demeter looks a little bit apologetic as she nudges Mitchell in the direction out of the strawberry field. “Now get going.”

 

Mitchell moseys and takes his time. This is his second visit in the span of not even twenty-four hours. Kayla makes a point of saying so when he shows up just in time to catch her coming back from her break.

 

“Did the cream not work?” The daughter of Apollo reaches for his hand immediately and Mitchell knows better than to interrupt a medic doing their job. She relinquishes it soon enough, her forehead scrunched up in worry. “It doesn’t look as bad as it did this morning. Maybe I should ban you from Archery practice for a few days just to make sure you don’t make things worse?”

 

“If you’d like.” Mitchell agrees easily. “I’m actually here about my eyes. Steven said you guys did prescriptions.”

 

“Oh,” Kayla blinks. “We do, actually. But Will usually takes care of it. What happened? Are things too blurry for you to read?”

 

“Nah,” Mitchell takes a seat on one of the empty cots, his legs dangling. “It just gets a little hard to recognize who is who from a distance.”

 

“That sounds only a little bad.” Kayla frowns, jotting things down on her pad of paper. “I can get you some grading glasses if you don’t mind wearing a pair now.”

 

Mitchell blinks. “Do you mean reading glasses?”

 

“Nope, grading glasses.” Kayla wags a finger at him. “Harvey, with Leo’s help, made these glasses that could read your eyes’ clarity for you. You have to keep it on for a few hours though, just so that it can record things accurately.”

 

“That sounds amazing.” Mitchell tilts his head. “Has it been tested out before?”

 

“They tried it out on Jason.” Kayla says. “It worked out pretty well. Although since Leo was gone on the quest, Harvey and Kristofferson have been working on it, tweaking it and stuff.”

 

“That sounds great. Umm, Steven also mentioned contacts.” Mitchell asks hopefully, “Did they by any chance work on those too?”

 

Kayla looks thoughtful. “You don’t usually fall asleep do you? Like, you don’t get random urges to nap?”

 

“Not usually, no.”

 

Kayla hums. “Okay, I’ll ask Leo about some contacts and a pair that will suit you. Clear contacts so your ability to change your eyes won’t be affected.”

 

“Bless you.” Mitchell laughs.

 

“Gotta help you keep your charm!” Kayla teases as she puts down her pad of paper and goes through some of the cabinets installed in the wall.

 

Mitchell can’t make sense of how exactly the infirmary was kept in order but the children of Apollo apparently could.

 

Kayla makes a triumphant ‘AHA!’ and pulls out a pair of stocky rectangular framed glasses.

 

“Looks hipster.” Mitchell comments.

 

“Yeah, Leo cared too much about the function to worry about the exterior, at first. I think he ended up borrowing this from one of your siblings and never managing to give it back.” Kayla laughs when Mitchell recoils at the mere suggestion. “Or maybe he bought it at the camp store. Travis and Connor sell some of this and the campers end up personalizing them at Arts and Crafts.”

 

“Dear Zeus I hope so.” Mitchell accepts the glasses after Kayla wipes them down with some alcohol and puts them on.

 

“Any changes?”

 

“Not really.” Mitchell tries concentrating, unknowingly squinting his eyes again in the process.

 

“Give it a few minutes.” Kayla tells him as she starts cleaning up the alcohol and gauze they used to clean the glasses as well as tucking away little bits and pieces of paper here and there.

 

Mitchell’s busily staring at the little charts the infirmary walls had about eating healthy and some first aid tips and tricks when everything seems to shift into high definition. “Oh.”

 

“Good oh?” Kayla asks moving back to his side. “Can you see the charts on the wall near the door better?”

 

“Yeah, wow.” Mitchell experiments with pulling the glasses off and on his face. Bringing them close and then taking them away. “Wow, I didn’t realize my eyesight was that bad.”

 

“Most people usually don’t.” Kayla claps her hands together. “Keep those on for a few hours, maybe until right before you sleep or do your skin care routine, which I know you follow religiously,”

 

“As everyone should.”

 

“Right,” Kayla humors him some more. “Just keep it on until then and hopefully they’ll get the right grading for the lenses you need and we can push an order for them.”

 

“How much do you think that's going to cost?”

 

“I’m not sure, since the Hephaestus kids haven’t exactly made a pair for sale before.” Kayla chews on her bottom lip for a moment. “Let’s talk to Harvey about it later at the campfire. He should have a better idea.”

 

“Okay.” Mitchell stands and is surprised to feel a sudden head rush. “Woah.”

 

“Ah yeah, you might wanna take some time to get used to it. The grades are probably either going sky high and de-escalating until it gets to the right ones instead of building up from low to high.”

 

“I’ll say,” Mitchell shakes his head in an effort to clear it and quickly decides to stay put. “Yup, I’m not going anywhere unless I want to feed this growing migraine.”

 

“Feel free to lie down or something. Just try not to fall asleep so the glasses can work their magic.” Kayla pats his shoulder. “I’ll just be by the desk, yell if you need me.”

 

“Thanks, Kayla.” Mitchell gets comfortable and tries his best not to fall asleep. But the thing is, when you put an extremely tired demigod on a bed, even one in the infirmary, a nap is inevitable.

 

He’s just about on the edge of sleep when the door to the infirmary is thrown open and there’s a gaggle of voices, all extremely loud. Clearly they never learned what an inside voice was.

 

“I’m telling you guys I’m fine!”

 

That was…

“Connor, you’re bleeding!”

 

… His _boyfriend_.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New character design unlocked! MItchell with glasses <3 
> 
> Also, why do I enjoy hurting Connor so much?


	3. The One Where It Isn't Working

Connor’s head swims just the slightest bit, okay that was a lie, and honestly it almost felt like he was still in the freaking ocean with how badly everything was just refusing to stay in place.

 

People keep trying to get him to lie still and he fights against it because, Hades be damned, he is not at all comfortable with any of the people around him.

 

“Connor you’re bleeding! Just stay still!”

 

Oh gods, especially the owner of that voice. Connor tries to inch away from Noah’s, undoubtedly good intentioned hands, the same time he tries to get himself off the infirmary cot. Or at least he thinks it’s the infirmary cot, that’s where they said they’d bring him.

 

“I’m fine!” He tries again.

 

“You are most certainly not fine Stoll, now stop moving before I sing hymns to strap you down.” Oh thank gods a familiar voice.

 

“Kayla.” Connor allows the manhandling, only because he knows Kayla meant it when she said she’d strap him down via hymns (and they burned. Not… not like a painful burn but warmth that just didn’t feel right).

 

“What happened?” oh but that warmth on his cheek feels _just_ right.

 

“Angel?” Connor forces his eyes to open despite being met with a swimming wall of white and white and white and oh, that’s Mitchell’s face. Huh. “When did you get glasses?”

 

“Just now.” Mitchell smiles at him, all shaky. Or was it just Connor’s vision shaking? “What happened to you?”

 

“Hit my head against the buoy.” He groans as Kayla does some prodding and poking at his head, pushing away locks of his hair.

 

“What were you doing all the way out to the buoy?” Mitchell snaps. “That’s pretty far off even for your level of reckless, Stoll.”

 

“Wanted to get away.” Connor mumbles, quickly figuring out that raised voices, whether his or anybody else, just added to the pain. He winces at a rather harsh poke. “Easy doc. I’d like to keep my head intact.”

 

“It’s already been split open, genius.” Kayla says dryly snapping on some rubber gloves. “I’m gonna have to use some medical tape on this, it’s not that deep Mitchell.”

 

“Ridiculous.” The son of Aphrodite mutters darkly but his leg is jiggling from his nerves and his hands are gripping Connor’s tightly in his. “You sure it doesn’t need stitches?”

 

“Nah, medical tape will do the trick.” Kayla gets to work, moving methodically with a calm expression on her face.

 

Mitchell takes a moment to keep track of Connor, the latter is keeping his eyes closed as Kayla works on him. After a while, he doesn’t look like his dying. Kayla hands him a small square of ambrosia and they leave him for the godly food to take effect.

 

The son of Aphrodite steps away from the cot to face his pseudo-siblings, face stern. “What happened?”

 

“Like he said, he swam straight into the buoy.” Noah says it dismissively, but the way he’s chewing on his bottom lip shows he’s nervous and the slightest bit guilty.

 

“I’m going to need a better explanation than that.” Mitchell presses.

 

Noah has the gall to give Mitchell a haughty look, his eyebrows raised. “Why? Connor was just entertaining us like a good host. He wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

 

“He was swimming into open water without proper supervision or even Percy to intervene if things went to Hades!”

 

“Wow, what does he see in you?” Noah asks dryly, giving Mitchell an apparent once over. “You’re cute, sure, but you’re an absolute stick in the mud and obviously way below average for a child of Venus. I mean, have you seen Piper? Now she’s an absolute work of art.”

 

“Sure.” Mitchell rolls his eyes at the clear jabs to his insecurity. An insanely low blow. Where was the class? None of his siblings would do that, unless desperate. Maybe Drew would. Huh.

 

Taking in deep breaths, Mitchell refuses to stoop to Noah’s level and gives him a cool and indifferent look. “What exactly is your goal here?”

 

“Nothing.” Noah says promptly, a low burning look in his eyes. “I just want to see what’s keeping Connor from dumping you for me.”

 

“A lot.” Kayla grumbles off to the side with an eye roll

 

Noah frowns. “What?”

 

“I said that the ambrosia is helping a lot.” Kayla covers up with her doctor’s grin and turns to Mitchell with a more genuine smile. “He’s going to be just fine. Won’t even leave a mark.”

 

“Shame.” Noah says, “Scars are so sexy.”

 

Mitchell could feel the vein in his neck thumping so hard from repressing his feelings. He takes in deep breaths in an effort to keep his cool, bypassing the infuriating child of Venus in order to focus on his boyfriend.

 

Noah tries to follow but Kayla pulls him aside to ask him about the incident, as per camp protocol.

 

Mitchell decides he owes Kayla a favor of any sort in the immediate future. Maybe a makeover or something.

 

“Hey there.” Connor is actually sitting up, a slightly dazed look on his face and Kayla must have draped a blanket over him since he was still shirtless when Mitchell gets to him. He smiles, “I thought I was imagining your glasses.”

 

“Nah, they’re really there.” Mitchell holds up his hands. “So is your blood over here.”

 

Connor winces in apology and reaches for the alcohol pads Kayla left out. The child of Aphrodite takes them gratefully and cleans his fingers clean of anything remotely resembling red. He inwardly winces when the redness on his drawing hand return.

 

“Oh.”

 

“What oh?” Mitchell asks slightly irritably.

 

Connor shuffles on the bed, raising his hips so he can get to the back pocket of his swim trunks. The blanket falls of his shoulders and he shivers in the cold infirmary air.

 

Mitchell scoots closer so that he can right it, making sure it covers him as best as it could and he’s not prepared when Connor settles back with something in his hand.

 

“What—“

 

“For you.” Connor says lamely.

 

Mitchell takes the offered gift with gentle hands. It was a finger guard made from some sort of metal that seemed to shimmer in the light of the infirmary. It was a rose gold that if he’d put on his finger, would wrap around it from the top knuckle to the last. A white gem that looked curiously like a diamond winks at him on the front. “How-?”

 

“I had it made a few weeks ago.” Connor tells him softly. “I noticed that your hands were getting a little beat up from your bow. I asked Jecs to help me conceptualize it. It’s metal, but it’s got Hermes’ dust on it. Makes it feather light. It’s a little flashy, which I thought you’d like since you’re always going on about how yes, the leather gloves the Apollo cabin uses are practical but so unfashionable and I thought that I could fix that for you.”

 

Connor takes the ring back and clicks on the diamond and it expands into a full glove. “Try it on.”

 

“It’s, Connor, it’s beautiful!” Mitchell takes the now transformed glove into hand and his train of thought is derailed when the metal moves… unlike any other metal he’s encountered before. “How the heck is this so malleable? Is this actual gold?”

 

“It’s just bewitched.” Connor smiles, obviously proud of his gift. “It’s supposed to feel and act just like any leather glove with the added bonus of a pleasing aesthetic.”

 

Mitchell slips it on his drawing hand and is absolutely floored because it does everything Connor says it does. He’s not sure if he’s ever been so speechless before, much less just downright flabbergasted. All he could do was gape at Connor like a caught fish.

 

“I would have given it to you earlier, but it only got finished today. Good thing too since your hand couldn’t take the damage from your bow anymore so, just in time right? Do you…. Do you like it?” Connor asks in response to his silent, a touch of worry in his voice.

 

Mitchell snaps out of his daze and wastes no time in pressing his lips to Connor, hoping that he could at the very least convey through this just how much he loved it.

 

He pulls back, and though the kiss is short, they’re both struggling to breathe.

 

Mitchell can feel Connor’s smiling lips still close to his as he mouths, “Thank you.”

 

“My pleasure.”

 

The sound of footsteps forces them apart and Noah flings back the curtains surrounding Connor’s cot.

 

“Oh Connor! Thank Jupiter you’re alright!”

 

Mitchell rolls his eyes at the show of concern, if a bit exaggerated for someone’s sake and instead focuses on his gift, admiring the way the metal wraps around his hands and yet he couldn’t feel it at all. It was kind of a trippy experience. Like, the metal was there and yet it was not. He couldn't feel it but he could see it.

 

So weird.

 

“Noah, I’m fi- look, see? Not even a scar!”

 

“Too bad too,” Noah tells him with a slight pout on his face (it was a look that worked for him, Mitchell begrudgingly admitted). “Scars are all the rage at Camp Jupiter!”

 

“Is that so?” Connor tries for a laugh and Mitchell inwardly chuckles at how fake it sounds. He could tell. He’s always being treated to the real one.

 

Noah’s saying something; he’s saying a lot of things. Mitchell’s ears are starting to ring and his head is still aching a little from his glasses. He stands, clicks on the diamond still on the glove to turn it back into a ring, opting to ditch the infirmary for his cabin so that he can appreciate his gift better, he can find Connor later, when he was hopefully less the company of one child of Venus.

 

But Connor calls for him before he can move.

 

“He looks busy, Connor.” Noah says and there’s something in the air that’s not quite sitting right with Mitchell. “You should let him go.”

 

 _Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. He’s using charmspeak_.

 

Mitchell’s jaw tightened as he tapped his foot on the wooden floors and crossed his arms over his chest and he sent a suffering look heavenward. _Really_ , _Mother? Really?_

 

“I want him here, Noah.” Connor says much to Mitchell and apparently Noah’s surprise. The child of Hermes offers the latter an apologetic smile and for sure, if his head weren’t hurting still, he’d be rubbing the back of it in one of his gestures.

 

“But. But I’m here!” Noah says insistently with a smile on his face, though it’s obvious his confidence is shattered. “You don’t need anyone else.”

 

“I kinda need my boyfriend.” Connor tells him.

 

_Oh._

 

Mitchell feels how hot his face is, not because of the boyfriend comment. Well, that was partly the reason, but also. Since, um, yes, he’s said it. Indirectly. Connor hasn’t, not even by accident. But this, this proves it. Connor…

 

“Why isn’t it working?” Noah whispered confused.

 

“What isn’t working?” Connor asks with a slight tilt of his head reminding Mitchell of a golden retriever puppy. Well, if golden retrievers were brown.

 

“It doesn’t work when the person’s in love.” Mitchell cuts in, his eyes trained on his boyfriend, his heart hammering hard in his chest.

 

_Connor loves me._

 

The son of Hermes’ brain seems to be catching up (poor thing, working on overdrive) and his eyes go wide open as he stares between Noah and Mitchell. “He was using charmspeak? He can do that?”

 

“Every child of Venus can.” Noah scoffs and smirks at Mitchell although the latter seriously doubts the validity of the other’s claims. “Why, can’t you? You can’t, can you? Psh, and you think he is better than me?”

 

“In more than a million ways.” Connor says easily.

 

Mitchell bursts into laughter and he messes with his fringe, as the flush on his face no doubt darkens. He beams at Connor, “You and I need to talk. Alone.”

 

Connor returns that smile with that typical Hermes’ grin that bring out the dimples in his cheek. He clears his throat, trying to squash the giddiness he is feeling, as well as the nerves, and smiles at Noah, this one more muted. “Do you mind?”

 

“You’re making a big mistake.” Noah hisses at him.

 

“I don’t think I am.” Connor tells him, his eyes on Mitchell.

 

Mitchell wags his eyebrows at him. “I don’t think you are either.”

 

“You probably deserve each other.” Noah scoffs and makes to stalk past the curtains keeping Connor’s cot privy. He stops short and spins on his heel to point a finger at Connor. “Make sure you don’t regret this.”

 

Mitchell’s made it close enough to Connor’s side that the latter is wrapping a loose arm around the former’s waist. “I won’t.”

 

Noah rolls his eyes then focuses on Mitchell. “You’ll never compare to me.”

 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Mitchell says and looks at Connor with startled eyes when the arm around his waist tightens as if to hold him back. “What?”

 

“Just making sure you don’t do anything you regret.” Connor says easily.

 

Mitchell rolls his eyes. “I am not going to lose my cool. Haven’t lost it yet, have I?”

 

Noah wasn’t finished though, “Your hair doesn’t event suit your face. Makes you look pasty. And don’t even get me started on the glasses.”

 

Mitchell gasps and gives Connor a look that would have made lesser men cry.

 

The child of Hermes sighs and removes his arm from around Mitchell’s waist. “Have at it.”

 

It was a good thing they were already in the infirmary. There was a slap, they honestly looked equally matched. Ooh, that gotta hurt. Connor's torn between cheering Mitchell on and getting someone to separate them. The universe chooses the latter.

 

“What in Apollo’s good name are you doing in my infirmary?! Hey! Break it up! Break it- Mitchell? Woah, you dyed your hair it looks goo- BREAK IT UP ALREADY!”

 

Connor is surprised at Will’s sudden appearance, he wonders if maybe he was a little concussed.

 

“HE CALLED ME PASTY!”

 

“TRUTH HURTS LIKE A BI-!”

 

“I came back for one reason and one reason only and that is to make sure a certain Death Boy is eating, sleeping, and living properly. I did not come back for this!”

 

Cue Will’s sonic whistle and the siblings spring apart.

 

Connor bursts into a little puddle of laughter on the infirmary bed. He doesn’t even bother to cover his ears; his head’s already aching anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just LOVE adding in little hints of SolAngelo and Tratie don't I? One of these days, ONE OF THESE DAYS, I will write those spin-offs I keep talking about. 
> 
> See you in the next installment!

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my rare moments of insecurity AHAHAHA
> 
> Nique: Is anyone even looking forward to any of these things that I post? I have like 15 installments for this series but my muse is a little sad ahahacries
> 
> Shoutout to Shadowshipper36 and The_Man_Called_Madara for all your comments. Each one gives me life!


End file.
